1001 classical works (The best) II- 1700-1750
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Re: 1001 classical works (The best) II- 1700-1750
JM Vie Nov 05, 2010 3:21 pm
87. Georg Friedric Handel -
Rodelinda (1725)
Rodelinda (1725)
Recording
Title: Rodelinda
Performers: Simone Kermes, Marijana Mijanovic, Il Complesso Barroco
Director: Alan Curtis
Year: 2005
Length: 3 hours 20 minutes
Review
After the truly great Handel Opera that was Giulio Cesare, Rodelinda pales in comparison. It is firstly a much slower paced opera, while Cesare alternated sad arias with vengeance or bright arias, this is mostly composed of mopy arias.
The music is still very good, but it leads to a certain amount of boredom, there is only about 1 minute of chorus at the very end, and the palatial conflict theme is at times too convoluted to keep your attention.
On the other hand Handel has shortened the arias here, while making a bigger number of them, and this is as it should be, avoiding some of the fatigue of the 10 minute long arias in Cesare. But in the whole the Opera is slightly boring.
The music remains at a very high standard and this recording is a great one, the embellishments by the singers are perfect, so if you get any version get this one. I watched it on DVD in the William Christie directed version, but the singing, even with Andreas Scholl as Bertarido was not as interesting as in this recording.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
It was first performed at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket, London, on 13 February 1725. It was produced with the same singers as Tamerlano. There were 14 performances and it was repeated on 18 December 1725, and again on 4 May 1731. It was also performed in Hamburg. The first modern production was in Göttingen on 26 June 1920.
Dove Sei, Andreas Scholl in the Christie Production:
JM- Cantidad de envíos : 1948
Fecha de inscripción : 01/09/2008
Re: 1001 classical works (The best) II- 1700-1750
JM Mar Nov 09, 2010 3:26 pm
100. George Friedric Handel -
Organ Concertos (1735-51)
Organ Concertos (1735-51)
Recording
Title: Organ Concertos
Performers: The Brandenburg Consort, Paul Nicholson (organ), Frances Kelly (harp)
Director: Roy Goodman
Year: 1996
Length: 2 hours 34 minutes
Review
These Handel concertos make organ bearable to me, while usually it is one of most reviled instruments when it is being played against a tutti it feels much better, there is none of the usual dullness associated with the organ and these end up being quite good concertos.
If you are like me and aren't the greatest organ fan this is definitely something you should check out, it won't change your ideas about what it sounds like solo but it will make it bearable.
Some of the pieces here are particularly interesting, the first movement of the Harp concerto on the collection is perhaps one of the most famous harp pieces ever, even if it now sounds like hotel lobby music. The concerto that follows it D Minor, Op.7 no.4 has a particularly classical opening adagio, which sounds quite ahead of its time. An impressive collection based around my most reviled instrument of all, so I can't give it a 9 or 10 but a very solid 8.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Like all types of instrumental concertos, an organ concerto is a piece of music for an pipe organ soloist with an orchestra. The form's heyday was in the 18th century, when composers such as George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach among others wrote organ concertos, with a small orchestra, and solo parts which rarely call for the organ pedal board. Although the organ concerto repertoire was hardly expanded during the Classical and Romantic periods, there are some 20th- and 21st-century examples, of which the concerto by Francis Poulenc has entered the repertoire, and is quite frequently played.
The organ concerto form is not usually taken to include orchestral works that call for an organ used as an extra orchestral section, examples of which include the Third Symphony of Camille Saint-Saëns, Gustav Holst's The Planets or Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra.
Hotel Lobby Music extraordinarie, the Harp concerto Op.4 No 6:
JM- Cantidad de envíos : 1948
Fecha de inscripción : 01/09/2008
Re: 1001 classical works (The best) II- 1700-1750
JM Miér Nov 10, 2010 3:47 pm
111. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach -
Keyboard Sonatas (1742-44)
Keyboard Sonatas (1742-44)
Recording
Title: Prussian Sonatas, Wurttemberg Sonatas
Performer: Bob Von Asperen
Year: 1977-79
Length: 2 hours 15 minutes (3 CDs)
Review
CPE Bach shows us a marked difference from his fathers use of the keyboard, this is harpsichord really on the edges of the classical period, it is almost there, but still recognisably baroque, even if it is for the simple fact that it is being played on an harpsichord.
That being said, it is still not spectacularly fascinating, but it is quite good. His father isn't much of an innovator, but CPE is much more so. But it is still more harpsichord, and it is kind of driving me crazy, there is one more solo harpsichord recording on the list then we are done with it.
So, yeah it's a welcome development of keyboard music and a kind of essential composition for that, but still too dull to be a real highlight of this list, it is more modern but not as good as the Goldberg variations.
Final Grade
7/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born in Weimar, Germany.
When he was ten years old he entered the St. Thomas School at Leipzig, where his father had become cantor in 1723, and continued his education as a student of jurisprudence at the universities of Leipzig (1731) and of Frankfurt (Oder) (1735). In 1738, at the age of 24, he took his degree, but at once abandoned his prospects of a legal career and determined to devote himself to music.
A few months later (armed with a recommendation by Sylvius Leopold Weiss) he obtained an appointment in the service of Frederick II of Prussia ("Frederick the Great"), the then crown prince, and upon Frederick's accession in 1740 Carl Philipp became a member of the royal orchestra. He was by this time one of the foremost clavier-players in Europe, and his compositions, which date from 1731, include about thirty sonatas and concert pieces for harpsichord and clavichord.
In Berlin he continued to write numerous musical pieces for solo keyboard, including a series of character pieces- the so-called "Berlin Portraits" including La Caroline.
His reputation was established by the two sets of sonatas which he dedicated respectively to Frederick the Great and to the grand duke of Württemberg; in 1746 he was promoted to the post of chamber musician, and for twenty-two years shared with Carl Heinrich Graun, Johann Joachim Quantz, and Johann Gottlieb Naumann the continued favour of the king.
Norberto Broggini plays the 1st movement from the Prussian Sonata n° 1 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on the Unfretted Clavichord by Johann Adolph Hass (Hamburg, 1763) of the Russel collection at the St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh.
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